The compelling line-up of contemporary dance-makers presenting work at the FACT/SF Summer Dance Festival 2026 is the strongest in memory. The program of six shorter works, includes ensemble pieces from Bay locals: FACT/SF, Ishami Dance Company, and Karla Quintero, alongside visiting artists Minneapolis-based Sarah McCullough, Salt Lake City-based Megan O'Brien, and Seattle-based Tshedzom Tingkhye. It isn’t clear if it is by coincidence or by design, but with the exception o

There is a satisfying weightiness to ODC/Dance’s Summer Sample 2026 on offer 4-nights only (July 28-August 2) at their intimate home theater in the Mission District. Two of the three pieces on this 3-act program literally dance around the precarity of sound mental health. The finale is a highly theatrical, a suitable homage to the three women responsible for ODC/Dance’s enduring relevance. Founded in 1971, ODC/Dance (ODC) has left an indelible mark on the life of San Francis

The experience of site-specific dance is richest when the dance and the location feel inexorably connected. Gratifyingly, this is the case with quartet of dances on YBG Choreofest Program A. ChoreoFest, now in its 9th year, is an outdoor festival of contemporary dance. It invites an array of Bay Area dancemakers to create and perform dances within the varied landscape of Yerba Buena Gardens, in downtown San Francisco. For the 4th year, presenter Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

I saw the best ballet! I want everyone to see it! As I wrote to a ballet presenter in my email insisting she must go: “It's beautifully crafted. It is witty, poignant, and true. It's about love and what goes right and what goes wrong and what endures. It is something special or I wouldn't be bothering you.” Choreographer Julia Adam’s Lunae Et Amore Amisso (Lunae), translates as “Of the Moon and Lost Love,” is being presented by JAD Experience July 17 – 26, at Tara Firma Far

Creating an evening-length work with a cast of 12 dancers is a complicated undertaking for even the most seasoned choreographers. It is audaciously ambitious for the fresh-faced trio of Tatianna Steiner, Ella Wright, and Teo Lin-Bianco, whose contemporary dance company, Tether Dance Project (Tether), was born out of a UC Berkeley student venture in late 2023. Returning to Joe Goode Annex less than eight months since their promising inaugural showcase Flux & Form, Tether deliv

I have a tendency to read novels in topical spates, say Mormon polygamy, or long-distance swimming (there are more of these than you think). Developed long before algorithms began pushing similar titles my way, this semi-unconscious habit of circling a topic serves me well. While others turn to non-fiction to gain comprehension of a subject, I rely on fictional narratives, told from a variety of perspectives, cultures, or time periods, to fuel my understanding and empathy. T

Making dances is gratifying, but sharing those dances with others is next level fun. This is why choreographer and performer Lauren Settembrino, a relative newcomer to the Bay Area dance scene, decided to organize some fellow dancemakers and produce GREENLIT Choreography Showcase at Zaccho Dance Theatre May 29 & 30. Beyond creating more performance opportunities and building community among the participants, Settembrino’s goals for the evening include honoring and embracing

It’s official: I am a Jocelyn Reyes fangirl. Judging from the enthusiastic reception of to her latest REYES Dance piece String Quartet No.ATE (ATE), I am not alone. Time and again, Reyes crafts contemporary dance works which are choreographically interesting and cogent, without being simplistic. Drawing on her own life experiences, she addresses societal problems with unflinching honesty, while using humor to soften the edges. Spanning generational and cultural divides, this

As April rolls into May, Oakland Ballet Company (OCB) has touched down in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown for the fifth season of their groundbreaking Dancing Moon’s Festival. I first experienced this unique and rare showcase of Asian-American Pacific Islander artists in the world of ballet, in 2023 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, where the work was thrillingly presented in the intimate setting of a community room, with audience chairs arrayed around a dance floo

I am a bit intimidated by the idea of San Francisco-based contemporary dance company, FACT/SF’s newest work, The Waves. With concept and direction by company founder and Artistic Director Charlie Slender-White, The Waves is inspired by a novel of the same name written by 20th Century literary pioneer Virginia Woolf, whose philosophically introspective novels I have found difficult to understand. Will I find the dance similarly impenetrable? Or will this translation into move

Two powerful humanistic dances, framed by a pair of abstract ballets, demonstrate the wide-range of choreographic approaches encapsulated by the evolving form of ballet in Smuin Contemporary Ballet’s spring program: Future Forward. Touring the Bay Area April 17 – May 17, it is an emotional rollercoaster of a program, which showcases the dancers’ classical and contemporary chops and some fine acting as well. Inspired by the “plight of women in the world,” Andi Schermoly’s Jan

A roar rises as the audience stands in exaltation of the artists of Alonzo King LINES Ballet (LINES). The 2026 Spring Season double-bill includes the world premiere of LEGACY , a collaboration with Award-winning musician and composer Esperanza Spalding, followed by the reprise of Ode to Alice Coltrane , which has captivated audiences across the U.S. and Europe since its premiere in 2024. Writing about LINES forces one to find new superlatives in an effort to meet the inventiv

Building on a unique history with ODC from student to dancer to staging director, and now, Co-Artistic Director, Theories of Time is Chong’s first choreographic work on ODC/Dance. If the quality of this work, and her astute choices of top-notch collaborators, is a gauge of what we can expect from Chong, as she steps more fully into her artistic leadership role, ODC/Dance and San Francisco audiences are in good hands for many years to come.

When the Black Choreographers Festival is in the house, Dance Mission Theater is the place to be! That is if you can get a ticket to these sold-out shows. Celebrating their festival’s 21st birthday founders laura e. ellis (African & African American Performing Arts Coalition) and Kendra Kimbrough Barnes (K*Star*Productions) present two distinct programs over two weekends in late February.

Celebrating the 100 th Anniversary of the founding of their company, Martha Graham Dance Company (MGDC) returns for the first time since 2016, to UC Berkeley, February 14 & 15. MGDC has been a leader in the evolving art form of modern dance since its founding. Graham, who revolutionized dance from the 1920’s onward, created 181 dance compositions during her storied career, so there is an abundance of works from which to choose. For the centennial, the company is touring th

Feats of strength and daring, a 200-pound man flying atop his partner’s shoulders, and dancing dinosaurs, are just some of the treats on offer in Bear Graham’s “Dance Lovers 14” at the Joe Goode Annex this Valentine’s weekend. I first discovered “Dance Lovers” in 2016 and haven’t missed one since! A heartfelt celebration of love and connection between two people, each year Graham presents a series of duets created and performed by “couples, crushes, and comrades.” “Dance Lo

The inflow of little girls in party dresses, their mothers and grandmothers swimming in their wakes, fills the Hofmann Theatre at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, California for the lone matinee performance of choreographer Julia Adam’s brand-new The Little Mermaid (Mermaid). Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved tale, this one-act ballet tells the story of a water nymph who falls in love with a mortal. Given the familiarity of the songs and the overall popularity of

Attending MoToR/dance’s People Are You Ready is what I imagine participating in a spiritual revival feels like for the faithful. Exiting the historic landmark Hillside Club in Berkeley after the hour-long performance, I feel uplifted, energized, and dare I say happy. Living in difficult and divisive times, bombarded daily with soul-crushing news and events, our individual efforts of resistance can feel meager and ineffective. Now more than ever we thirst for solace, connect

Dance Brigade, the Bay Area's original feminist, political dance theater company, culminates its 50 th Anniversary Celebration Season with the premiere of Krissy Keefer’s Match Girrl at Dance Mission Theater, with performances on weekends through February 1. It is an alt-musical-theater reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1845 fairytale, The Little Match Girl, about a starving young match seller’s final night. Hoping for warmth, the girl futilely burns her few remain

San Francisco’s own homegrown circus Circus Bella has, for the third year running, pitched its candy-striped big top tent in downtown San Francisco. Offering a respite from real world responsibilities, Circus Bella welcomes one and all into their dazzling world. STARLIGHT , their all-new Winter circus spectacular, offers an appealing mix of fresh acts and familiar faces. The tricks are consistently thrilling and the clowning is so hilarious that STARLIGHT left me with achi